@Ronn Can mayors in TX, esp in big cities, make their own decisions and not have to follow the gov's orders?
It's like that here. I wonder how Atlanta is doing.
Technically yes, but state legislators can always pass rules overriding those city regulations. For instance state passed a law a few years ago giving more freedom to cut trees on your property. Austin had previously tightened restrictions on that.
Courts sometime intervene too. Austin had a plastic bag ban since 2013 but sometime in 2018(?) Texas supreme court ruled that cities cannot alter solid waste management. It goes the other way too. Lina Hidalgo, Harris county judge had a public fight with Abbott over her SIP order earlier this year.
Some counties are already mandating wearing masks since it's not required at state level. Most of the counties with large population have one already. I don't expect Abbott to move to nullify that. But if they start issuing SIP orders then Abbott might see it as red line to his authority. It all depends on how bad the situation will get.
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Testing in Texas is all over the place. For past five days th enumber of tests conducted were 52k 38k 30k 39k 28k. With 5700 cases today the positivity rate is 20%. Also, Texas Medical Center in Houston has not updated their website since June 24 when they announced their regular ICU capacity is at 100% full. Things don't seem good in Texas.